


The Swan Maiden

by D_Morgenstern



Category: De vilde Svaner | The Wild Swans - Hans Christian Andersen, Fairy Tales & Related Fandoms, Original Work
Genre: Animal Transformation, Canon Lesbian Character, Canon Lesbian Relationship, Complete, F/F, Fairy Tale Retellings, Happy Ending, Lesbian Character of Color, Multicultural, Science Fiction, Steampunk, The Twelve Swans, Transformation, sci fi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-25
Updated: 2016-01-25
Packaged: 2018-05-16 06:25:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5817529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/D_Morgenstern/pseuds/D_Morgenstern
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Herzogin remarries. The new Herzog is something of a mad scientist as he turns his twelve sons into genetically altered swans and his stepdaughter into a swan hybrid. The siblings are cast into a far off land where they find shelter at the court of foreign princess. The princess will give the resources to allow the sister to transform herself and brothers, but things become even more complicated when the princess falls in love with the swan maiden.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

In a time different than our own, but not in a place far away, a sister lived with her twelve older brothers. Their mother was the Herzogin of their region. She had won the people’s respect in battle, and kept it by being a fair and kind ruler. As such she assured her children to be heirs of the seat, given from the Kaiserin herself.  
  
They had the most splendid estate to live on. There was a library of bejeweled books that reached from floor to ceiling in a rain. There was a menagerie of friendly tigers, peacocks, and elephants. Within the children’s quarters were automatons that spoke and danced when wound by their key. They lived in splendor and wanted for nothing.  
  
The only sadness in their life was that their father had died only a few months after the birth of the youngest daughter. He had been taken by an unfortunate accident regarding a steam-powered carriage. As her sons grew the Herzogin speculated the boys were in want of a father figure. She sent out into the kingdom a challenge; whoever could create the greatest wonder would marry the Herzogin and be the stepfather of her children.  
  
Her contest was answered readily. For not only was the Herzogin wealthy and well respected, she was lovely. Men from the regions and those near and far crowded the estate gates with their potential dowries.  
  
One crafted an automaton that not only had the silky locks and ample bust of the Herzogin but also her melodious voice and coy glance. The wax machine warbled with the skill of an operatic baritone. A great contender!  
  
Another man displayed a most wondrous steamcraft. It replicated a peacock with its gorgeous tail and cobalt wings. It could hold the entire family of fifteen within its bejeweled body. Unfortunately upon its test flight it crashed into the pond and reminded the Herzogin of the demise of her first husband.  
  
Finally there was a man of little wealth. He had no noble name nor recognition. As the Herzogin was an egalitarian woman she allowed him to display his ware. From a silver case he produced nothing but an emerald vial and a syringe. He asked for a tiger cub. Beneath the eyes of hundreds he pierced its breast with the needle and injected his serum into the helpless animal.  
  
The daughter, Elise, was troubled by this cruelty.  
  
“Stop!” she cried out when it was already too late. The cub contorted in pain and struck at his tormentor’s face. The man dropped the hurting animal and Elise ran to scoop him up. As she approached the furry bundle however suddenly two white wings sprouted. Looking down in horror she watched the cub give a few clumsy flaps of his wings. With a tiny new the wings at last caught the wind and the cub was in the air.  
  
The Herzogin gave an appreciative cry. Elise felt her stomach turn. Her oldest brother Gilbert put his hand on her shoulder and looked up at the cub crawling on the roof with a frown.  
  
“Can it be used on human beings?” Was their mother’s first question. The man nodded. And with that affirmation the sibling’s fates were sealed.  
  
  
  
Their mother envisioned an army of bear-men and swift, flying archers. Her ardor for her new husband could not be measured. Elise tended to the cub, now “Leopold” in wary withdraw. Her brothers also anxiously paced the halls.  
  
“Charlatan,” Gilbert snorted.  
  
“Quack,” pronounced the sixth son, Franz.  
  
“Monster-maker,” sneered the seventh, twin of the sixth, Fritz.  
  
“He will never be our father,” they all promised.  
  
Their wishes however were not considered. They all began to realize their idyllic paradise had been the whim of their mother alone. If they wished to remain on these golden shores they must kowtow. Of all the children only the first four, Gilbert, Johann, Wilhelm, and Ansgar were of the age of majority. Nevertheless their departure would leave the younger nine alone and undefended.  
  
Their stepfather had seen the children’s distrust and dislike of him. It was a mutual feeling. After all how could he thrive when there were so many claimants for the family wealth? How could his own children grow in such a crowded garden?  
  
He waited until the Herzogin had left for the Capital for the yearly meeting of the nobles with the Kaiserin. In her absence he created a pretext by letting Gilbert’s prized horse loose into the woods. The hothead inevitably confronted him about his negligence. When he was grabbed by his jacket by his stepson he slammed a syringe into the man’s arm.  
  
Gilbert dropped him immediately and fell back. He wrenched the syringe out with a gasp. His eyes became wide and he swallowed. The Herzog could only smirk at his horrified look.  
  
“What did you do?” The great oaf gulped.  
  
“I was only defending my life.”  
  
“What did you do?!” Gilbert snarled.  
  
“It’s a deadly virus. You’ll be dead in 12 hours.” His stepson’s face blanched. The Herzog smiled slowly. “I already injected all your siblings. It was only you who needed to be distracted!”  
  
“You-!” Gilbert lunged with hands reaching for the Herzog’s throat. The man ducked, by mere millimeters. His stepson would kill him easily if he was not careful.  
  
“Only I have the antidote!” He informed the lummox with a sneer. That gave the fool pause. He reached into his jacket and withdrew a document. “Sign this, and you may have it.”  
  
Gilbert staggered but he grasped the paper. He read it quickly. “You want me to sign over my inheritance?!”  
  
“Tick-tock, the longer you dally, the faster your siblings die.” The Herzog pressed. Gilbert groaned but signed the paper. He was given the antidote.  
Twelve vials full of the same serum he had injected the oldest with. The Herzog lightly stepped after Gilbert’s clamorous steps with his hands behind his back. He heard yelling and footsteps quickly coming towards him. Ansgar was running down the stairs from the children’s quarters. He drew his sword when his stepfather came into sight.  
  
“You bastard-!” He thundered. He raised his sword. It fell from his grip as his arms contorted and elongated. Snowy white feathers sprouted from his skin. His neck twisted and his cry became a swan’s honk.  
  
The bird circled in confusion in his shed clothes and sword. The Herzog passed him with a sweeping step. The estate was filled with the scream of swans. He did appreciate the sinuous transformation of bird to man. As he had predicted this transformation was complete, not the faulty hybrid of tiger and swan.  
  
He hummed to himself as he came across the embattled Gilbert, surrounded by his shrieking avian brothers. He was fighting his metamorphosis. His wings struggled to hold the last vial, he was crying out through a swan’s beak. The Herzog paused, why was there one vial left?  
  
“Elise!” Gilbert desperately squawked.  
  
The Herzog turned in the direction of the cry. The girl was standing in the doorway, her eyes wide as she soaked in the horror before her. The tiger was standing behind in a similar confusion. Elise’s mouth opened as Gilbert reached for her, but she moved it without sound. Her voice had been taken from her. The Herzog reached down for the last bottle the same moment the oldest became fully a swan.  
  
They all had to be transformed! If he left even one to tell the story this would all be for naught. He stepped towards the girl with the intent of injecting her. Gilbert the swan latched onto his ankle and pulled back on his pants. In a second at least ten swans attacked him, pecking and flapping their wings.  
  
They struggled for a minute as the Herzog tried to shake at least those who had a hold of his arms. There was a crash, the girl had thrown a chair through a window. She was getting ready to escape. She was turned towards the tiger who had spread his great white wings.  
  
“No!” He desperately threw the last vial. Elise turned at the sound of his voice and took the serum to her face. She fell back with a cry, covering her face with her hands. The tiger snarled and the swans abated. The Herzog fell back as he saw the beast ready to pounce on him. Elise grabbed one wing however and hoisted herself up onto his back. She peered up over the tiger’s back.  
  
She no longer had hair but white feathers. She no longer had a nose or mouth but a black beak. She gave the morose honk of a swan. The Herzog exhaled, she too had been transformed. The girl threw herself over the tiger’s back and urged him to escape through the window. The swans lingered for a few more seconds but one by one they followed their sister’s escape.  
  
There was no more they could do.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Elise is helped by a kindly old woman and meets the princess for the first time.

They flew for hours and days. They flew in a formation headed by Elise and Leopold. They headed north, where their mother was. Though they no longer had any way to speak to her. Only Elise had retained some human form, but she had lost her ability to speak as a human. They could speak to each other as swans they found, but not one of them had retained human speech.

They sheltered along lakes and ponds. Elise remained hidden, protected and fed by her brothers and Leopold. They lamented their fate, and could only conceive their mother would be able to help them.

“How will she know us?” Fritz asked.

“By Leopold,” Elise mused. “And I can still write.”

No rescue was to come however. On their third day of travel a mighty storm came down from the north. They were swept up by its colossal winds and thrown to the east. They landed on an unknown shore along a small sea. The land was much more arid than their homeland’s, and full of strange wildlife. They had no idea where they were.

They made a home in a cave for they could do nothing else. A year or more passed of this passive resignation. They all spoke of returning to their splendid estate with its luxurious baths and endless feasts. They spoke of flaying their stepfather. Yet the problem remained; they must become human again.

In time Elise came across an old woman fishing along the sea. She had been bathing in a small cove and this was apparently the woman’s favored fishing spot. She called Elise “aspara” and seemed to want to converse in a language the girl didn’t recognize. She wrote a sentence in the sand identifying herself as Elise, daughter of the Herzogin, sister of the twelve swans.

“Ah, Alemannic.” The woman mused. She nodded and in a broken but understandable rendition began to converse in Elise’s language.

“You are far then from where you’re from.” She sighed.

“Who are you?” Elise wrote.

“I am Azra, daughter of Mohammed, of the Darzi clan. We’re tailors, and we served the former and now current satrap. Lucky for you I married an Alemannic musician once, and that our prince kept many people at his court, including my husband and my peoples.” She nodded firmly.

“Fate.” Elise scrawled.

“Kismet,” Azra agreed.

Elise wrote their sad tale in the sand and took up nearly the whole shore. Azra followed her steps as she read along. She would shake her head, groan and gasp at the descriptions. At the end she fell silent for many minutes. She at last looked up at Elise.

“I am moved by your tale child, and would like to help you. I can take you to the princess, even though I am now retired. She may choose to help you if it pleases her. She has the resources to do so.”

Elise hugged the old woman and thank her a hundred times. That night she told her brothers she was going to leave with Azra the next morning to go to the capital of this region.

“Take Leopold with you, and we will fly overhead.” Gilbert said.

Before her appearance before the princess Azra had Elise bathed and dressed in one of her daughter’s old clothes. She was given a vermillion tunic with an ochre girdle and billowy white trousers. Like the other women her head was covered by a veil. Elise felt more comfortable with her features somewhat obscured through her beak still peeked out.

Azra’s family was strangely nonplussed by the sight of a half human bird and a winged tiger. They marveled, but it was more the admiration one has for a lovely music box than something as frightening as unnatural beasts. When they reached the capital after a journey of three days Elise began to understand their complacency.

Many fantastic beasts walked along the marble walkways. There were elephants of every color, unbelievably tall animals of orange and brown, and two headed goats and cows. There were automatons that put the one of her mother to shame. They moved with exceptional grace and spoke as sweetly as songbirds. They moved eyes of emerald, sapphire, and amber as one walked past.

There were flying vehicles whose wings eclipsed the sun. Many more moved on wheels and feet, pattering down the walkways with great speed. Their steam engines whirred and grinded as they passed in a fury.

When her veil fell back as she stared in amazement at the cobalt underbelly of an airship Elise was stared at. She was not stopped however and left to walk on her way when she pulled her veil back up.

“Are there others like me and Leopold here?” She wrote on a piece of paper and handed it to Azra.

“Not quite. I have not ever seen an organic being like you.” Azra informed her. She shrugged. “I think most of these people think you’re steam powered.”

Elise fell silent at the thought and stroked Leopold’s head.

They were allowed their appointment with the princess after some hours waiting in the antechamber. It was only after the day’s business was finished the princess would hear charity cases. Through the window Elise could spy twelve swans.

The court was as lavish as one would expect with such a magnificent city. The tile was of lapis lazuli, and the throne was of carved jasper, rife with filigree and lions heads. The cushions were stacked high. The princess was dressed sumptuously in crimson silk and golden embroidery. Her golden crown reached towards heaven. Her heavy singular brow raised as the winged tiger and swan maiden approached.

Elise was surprised she was perhaps only a few years older than herself.

Azra motioned for Elise to follow her in a full bow that put her face on the floor. They sat on their knees to address the princess. Azra and the princess conversed in their language for many minutes. At Azra’s urging Elise removed her veil to much murmuring from the court. Elise glanced and saw her brothers peering down through the high windows. She pulled on Leopold’s ear and he sat by her.

The princess slipped off her throne and approached Elise. She tensed but met the dark eyes of the princess. The woman gently touched her cheek, running a feather through her dusky fingers. She looked away and Elise exhaled. She said something to Azra that made her smile.

“She says she will take you on as a court engineer.” Azra informed her. Elise blinked. “You will learn all the sciences. You will have to find your own cure for your brothers because it doesn’t exist here yet. She had a secluded garden in which they may stay. In exchange you must remain at her court for five years.”

Elise nodded at this decree and bowed to her savior. She gave thanks in her own language. She raised her teary eyes to her brothers and in the tongue of a swan told them they were saved.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The princess falls in love with Elise, but being the favorite is a dangerous position.

Though Elise was an apt student it was no easy task to reverse the engineering done to herself and her brothers. She graduated from the royal academy within five years. In that time she had participated in several projects. She had helped develop a vaccine for a new disease that had suddenly flared up by the sea she and her brothers had already landed.

She isolated an enzyme in cattle that made them more muscular and modified a virus to alter the DNA of mice to produce this same enzyme. It was the basis of the serum her stepfather had used to mutilate her and her brothers. Nevertheless the exact replication of his serum, and how to reverse it, remained unknown to her. She learned that he had not used true swan DNA to alter their genetic code, rather he had somehow modified some other genetic code and made it think it was swan DNA. How he had accomplished such chicanery became her obsession.

The princess at least was pleased with her. For the first six months or so she had been as indifferent to Elise as any of her other “treasures” for she kept a menagerie of all that was strange and unusual. That had changed when she had tried to exhibit the twelve swans to some visiting dignitaries. Elise knew her brothers were ashamed of their appearance and given to stress. They only remembered their humanity because she spoke to them.

She couldn’t refuse her benefactor. She could only exchange. That night she told her brothers to roost in the mountains. When the princess called for her exotic birds Elise instead appeared. She dressed in her best silks with golden slippers. She put bells upon her wrists and ankles.

And she danced. Azra had called her “aspara”, she danced as one of the heavenly nymphs. It took her weeks to perfect her technique and her performance that night was an encapsulation of all her passion and despair. She was neither woman nor bird but something suspended between heaven and earth. She was beautiful and beyond reproach.

The princess fell in love with her that night.

The courtship was subtle for the princess couldn’t be too open about flirting with a monster. Nevertheless the swan maiden was the princess’ favored companion. She accompanied her on her hunts, to her bath, to her bed chamber. They spent nights alone in perfumed chambers and in luscious gardens. Elise received frenzied poems and miniatures.

Elise began to feel conflicted. She had always intended to return to her mother’s region after her brothers were cured. They must reclaim their birthright.

The princess was charming despite her temper and arrogance. Elise knew she would miss her presence. In idle hours she found herself fantasizing about raising children amongst those lapis lazuli halls. She knew she enjoyed it when her princess pried her legs apart and placed her mouth there. That she relished the taste of her and the warmth of her skin.

It was more than a beast should hope for.

To be the favorite was dangerous however. Many established families coveted the position of spouse and fancied it for their own children. The thought of being usurped for a foreigner, and a monster moreover, was too much to bear. Her research was destroyed three times. Each time she was forced to start over and always come within the same inches of the cure.

After her third rally it was realized she was not going to be intimidated. The malice that time came to the form of an insidious rumor. The swan maiden wasn’t crafting a cure for her brothers at all, she instead intended to turn the princess into a monster so she would be forced to marry her.

The princess laughed at first to hear this.

“If she had intended such a thing, she would have by now!” She waved her hand in mirth.

“But her research keeps getting destroyed.” A courtier pointed out. “Maybe that’s why.”

The princess shook her head. “She only wants to cure her brothers!”

“Your majesty’s head is clouded with love,” The vizier sighed.

“She talks of power a lot less than you.” The princess fumed and the man firmly shut his mouth. Nevertheless the rumors continued and began to amass into a wave that flooded the halls, alcoves, and gardens. The princess turned her back to that cold tide but couldn’t ignore the water swirling around her waist when the swan maiden was thrown before her feet one winter day.

“Your majesty this serum can only be used to transform men into swans!” Her senior engineer bellowed. He shook the vial. “I have analyzed it!”

The princess paused. Until now this advisor had been impartial. His accusation carried a serious weight. Elise shrieked in an attempt to explain. With her swan’s beak all she could do was honk and weep. The princess turned away at the pathetic sight. She raised her head at the tapping of the windows. The twelve swans were clamoring to get in. She narrowed her eyes.

“Have her beheaded.” She whispered as she crossed her arms over her chest. Elise screamed in a shrill cry that reverberated down the lapis lazuli halls. The princess’ shoulders tensed. Azra Darzi had told her the legend of the asparas when she was still a child. They were heartless creatures with no human empathy. After all one even drowned her children relentlessly.

She was just a monster.

Yet after Elise had been removed from the hall and imprisoned the princess removed herself. She retreated to her quarters. Upon her silk pillows and plush cushions, she wept for the first time since her father had died.

  
  
  
In an act of mercy Elise was allowed her equipment even as she prepared for death. Perhaps the princess wanted to offer her a distraction as an executioner was summoned from the royal capital and his blade was sharpened. For her beloved the princess would grant the swiftest and most painless death. This gave Elise two weeks to at last craft her cure.

Yes, her serum would create another transformation. At this stage. She had at last realized how to cure her brothers. All she needed to do was remind their DNA it was human. If placed in an animal, as they senior engineer must have done, it would have made a hybrid.

If it was injected into a human however it would have no effect.

The serum was still unstable however, if injected it may not fully transform. Her last days were spent trying to stabilize the virus that would awaken her brothers’ humanity. She had no way to speak of her hope to her brothers for she was kept in a windowless laboratory. She could only hope the princess’ compassion had extended to her brothers. Without her soothing words however they may have forgotten they were ever men.

On the day of execution Elise hid her syringes within the folds of her clothes. With shackles on none feared she would attack. She waited until she was on the scaffold. Her execution was to be private. There was no one present save the princess and a few senior advisors. And all twelve of her brothers along a wall. The guards step back, allowing her a few last words.

She raised her bill and looked her beloved in the eyes. She turned her arm and turned her hand up. A syringe slid down and she pierced her palm. She injected herself by pushing the plunger against her hip.

It burned, it hurt as much of the first time. She staggered and she heard the princess scream. The guard grabbed her by the arm and pulled her up. Her hair parted, and revealed her human face.

At the same second the swans descended. They attacked the guards with their bills and wings. One landed before Elise however and she knelt down to inject him in his breast. He became a man, her oldest brother. Gilbert embraced her, stroking her long hair.

“Thank you,” he gasped. He disarmed the embattled executioner and used his axe to cut Elise’s chains. He made to make a stand with the axe against the guards. More brothers landed before Elise and began to transform them back into young men.

“Stop!” The princess voice cried out. The charging guards stopped, but Elise didn’t cease until each brother had received his dose. They each stood as a man before her, whole and complete. Save for the youngest, Hans, whose right arm remained a wing. She kissed his cheeks and held him close. After she stepped away she found the princess standing on the scaffold steps with tear stained cheeks.

“I am sorry, so sorry!” She gasped. She fell to her knees with a cry. She covered her face and sobbed at how close she had come to killing an innocent woman, and one she loved. Gilbert sneered at her but Elise gently pushed him back and walked up to her. She offered her hand and pulled the monarch to her feet.

“How happy I am I can speak with my own voice,” Elise said softly in her new tongue. The princess blinked. “But many cannot. Please remember that, my love.”

The princess nodded and swallowed. Elise wiped her tears and kissed her deeply.

“I’ll stay here to make sure you are never so foolish again.” She promised. The princess gave a weak laugh and put her arm around Elise’s shoulders.

  
  
  
They said their farewells to half of Elise’s brothers. The oldest six returned to their mother’s land to reclaim their birthright and the youngest six remained with their sister as courtiers and advisors. A year later they received a letter detailing their joyous return and their stepfather’s execution.  
Elise returned the letter with the news of the birth of her daughter only a month prior. A perfect princess of dark eyes with a singular, heavy brow, and a certain love for swans and winged tigers.


End file.
